North Bay residents make last minute rain preparations

NOVATO, Calif. (KGO) -- People in the North Bay, as is often the case, were the first to get hit by Friday's storm. Still, this week was a chance to prepare before larger rainstorms roll through the Bay Area starting on Sunday.

North Bay residents knew the storm was coming, and Friday afternoon sure enough cities like Novato got pelted by the rain. Drivers were being especially cautious navigating through the wet roads.

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Novato homeowner Phillip Elissetche was concerned about the heavy winds and the large trees behind his house. He said, "I'm afraid they're going to come down on the house. I mean, you stop to think about the winds. They're pretty tall."

Aside from that, he was prepared for the upcoming rains.

"The rains bring the leaves down so I'm kind of keeping the gutters cleaned up," Elissetche said.

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Earlier, Kurt Donaldson was filling about 250 sandbags. He knows from past experience the creek near his home overflows very quickly and he nearly lost his barn about 12 years ago.

"The creek came within three feet from my barn and if I lose the barn, I can't rebuild it because it's now on an easement, so I have to save it. So that's why I have so many sandbags," Donaldson said.

Donaldson was also helping Marion Weeks who had concerns of her own.

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"We have water, when it rains really hard, that comes down a walkway toward our garage, the side door, and that's what we want to prevent -- the water getting into the garage," Weeks said.

Perhaps no one is happier about the rain and the recent colder temperatures than Greg Talamini from Nero's Designer Firewood. Last year between the drought and the Spare The Air days, his business suffered.

"It's colder. We're actually having a winter this year, so rejoice, rejoice. The salmon are happy, the farmers are happy, ski resorts are happy and the firewood guys are happy," Talamini said.

Talamini expects this to be a big weekend and a good few months.